[pianotech] Securing Pianos to the floor

[Andrew & Rebeca Anderson]

I'll have to add an anecdote here.  Jurgen is absolutely correct.   
Cruise ship passengers do not get to enjoy the type of ride cruise  
ship employees often to.  When the ship needs to change ports for  
passengers, employees that can get seasick get-off and fly.  What  
happens in between working ports is described as nothing short of  
hellish.  Of-course, to save money, power was turned off.  AC was  
unavailable and the ship behaved, well, like a ship.  One lady told me  
that she had decided to save money and ride it out once.  She  
described clinging to her bunk while a loose suit case entertained her  
sliding from one end of the room to the other, back and forth.  Why in  
her room, there was no shipboard discipline and she did not feel safe  
outside of a locked door with the temporary transfer staff.

Those cups are probably custom made and more than an inch deep with  
bolts or welds down to the steel plate floor.  Casters are either  
removed or deep within bigger cups.

Andrew Anderson

On Mar 12, 2009, at 2:57 AM, wimblees at aol.com wrote:

> Maybe Jim can custom make three 1" deep cups. Jim?
>
> Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
> Piano Tuner/Technician
> Mililani, Oahu, HI
> 808-349-2943
> Author of:
> The Business of Piano Tuning
> available from Potter Press
> www.pianotuning.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jurgen Goering <pianoforte at pianofortesupply.com>
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Sent: Wed, 11 Mar 2009 7:50 pm
> Subject: [pianotech] Securing Pianos to the floor
>
> > You can buy caster cups from most supply houses, or from Jim  
> Grebe. Just
> > screw the caster cups into the floor, and put the piano legs in  
> the cups.
>
>
> Not!
> Speaking as someone who has been on large and smaller ships in heavy  
> weather,
> I can attest that the last thing you want to worry about in that  
> moment is a
> 750 lb grand piano which has jumped over the rim of the caster cups  
> and is
> now creating havoc in the main salon, rolling to and fro,  
> overturning tables,
> smashing into walls and crushing furniture, hopefully vacated  
> furniture...
> If someone believes that a 1/4' or 3/8" lip on a caster cup provides  
> an
> adequate guarantee that the piano will stay  put, I suggest that  
> they have
> never been on a real ship when it encounters real weather, as will be
> unavoidable from time to time.  The operative words are "safety  
> margin".
>
> For this purpose, the cup should be closer to 3/4 or 1" deep.   
> Better yet:
> remove the caster and bolt a square cup to the floor which snuggly  
> fits the
> piano's legs
>
> Jurgen Goering
>
>
>
>
>
> A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!

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